Wikileaks Commissions Lawyers to Defend Alleged Army Source

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wants a copy of the chat logs in which a U.S. intelligence analyst discussed providing classified materials to the whistle-blower site, according to an e-mail shown to Wired.com by the ex-hacker who turned the analyst in.

Assange says he’s arranging the legal defense for 22-year-old Bradley Manning, now in his third week in military custody.

In the Friday e-mail to Adrian Lamo, Assange (or someone convincingly posing as him) claims he wants to forward the logs to attorneys he says he’s hired to represent Manning, though the e-mail doesn’t explain why the unnamed lawyers aren’t approaching Lamo directly.

The e-mail also contains talking points Assange would like to see Lamo adopt in describing Manning, and in explaining his decision to report the suspected leaker to law enforcement.

Manning’s defence team, which I have commisioned, urgently requires all emails and chat logs you alleged to have come from Mr. Manning. Please send them to me, if necessary through our online submission system. They will be used strictly for Mr. Manning’s defence, but must be complete.

In addition, it would be helpful if you described Mr. Manning, as a “whistleblower”, who had already lost his access over an unrelated issue, held no data, and was of no meaningful threat to anyone. In particular Mr. Manning was not an “alleged spy”, and it is wrong for you to describe him as such, or to suggest that there were no other approaches to resolving the situation.

It would also be helpful to all concerned if you stopped trying to justify your behavior by whipping up sentiment against Mr. Manning in other ways. Your most effective personal strategy is to say you were scared due to your previous experiences, unthoughtful due to recent drug problems, and made a decision which you now bitterly regret and would under no circumstances repeat. Going around like a poor man’s Tsutomu, constantly drawing attention to yourself through the destruction of a young romantic outlaw figure, will leave you permanently reviled by history–and me.

JA

Wired.com could not confirm that Manning has accepted Assange’s offer of legal assistance. A phone call to his aunt, who has been in contact with Manning following his arrest, was not returned Friday. Assange did not immediately respond to inquiries from Wired.com.

Lamo says he hasn’t attempted to whip up sentiment against Manning, and that he doesn’t intend to comply with Assange’s request.

“No, I’m not going to give the logs to someone who suggests that I might have been drug-addled when I decided to turn in a spy,” says Lamo, who takes prescription medication for depression and Asperger’s Disorder. “Private Manning’s attorney can get them by discovery like everyone else.”

In his chats with Lamo, copies of which were provided to Wired.com by the ex-hacker, Manning described a crisis of conscience that led him to leak a headline-making video of a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of several innocent civilians. He also boasted of leaking a separate video showing the notorious 2009 Garani air strike in Afghanistan that Wikileaks has previously acknowledged is in its possession; a classified Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a security threat, which the site posted in March; a detailed Army chronology of events in the Iraq war; and a cache of 260,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks has neither confirmed nor denied that Manning leaked information to the site, but on Sunday it tweeted that “Allegations in Wired that we have been sent 260,000 classified US embassy cables are, as far as we can tell, incorrect.”

Manning told Lamo that he expected the cables to be released in a “searchable format” to the public. The prospect of the cable leak appears to be of particular concern to the United States. One or more of Manning’s hard drives were flown to Washington on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, and State Department diplomatic security agents are examining them for evidence of the allegedly downloaded cables. The Daily Beast reported that the Pentagon is attempting to locate Assange before he publishes the cables, though it’s not clear what defense officials plan to do if they find him.

Responding to the report, Wikileaks tweeted Friday, “Any signs of unacceptable behavior by the Pentagon or its agents towards this press will be viewed dimly.”

Assange was previously scheduled to speak at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time Friday at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas. On Friday, Wikileaks tweeted that Assange still plans on participating on the panel, but IRE told the Daily Beast that Assange actually canceled several days ago.

Last week, Assange was scheduled to appear beside Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg, but he wound up participating from Australia over Skype instead.

Thanks for posting this fascinating article.. I am linking to it and the following The Daily Beast Article, as well as other related links under critical breaking news at www.FlybyNews.com

'As feds hunt for Wikileaks' Julian Assange
in hopes of preventing him from publishing
diplomatic secrets, Samuel P. Jacobs talks
with Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Daniel Ellsberg about why he should
stay out of America­ and why some
things should be kept secret.'

This should all be taken at face value?
Is Manning working with authorization from the USIC in a effort to build a case against wikileaks?
Is Lamo working for the USIC snooping for security threats?
Is wikileas really an operation of the USIC intended to entrap would be whistle-blowers?
These people are working for the USIC collaboratively?
One faction of the USIC is working at cross purposes to another?

People who want to meet these pioneers of a less censored media, like the "Icelandic Modern Media Initiative", can do so.

I was very touched to watch Daniel Elsberg's concern and defense for what Jullian Assange is up against: please watch the msnbc interview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppDfaJfKPp4 . It is a very touching interview. To me, as Daniel Elsberg is a hero of American civil society of my generation, Julian Assange is an amazing and inspiring activist of this Era of excessive "classified information" of an America that has drifted off to a psychotic "empire" inhabiting a parallel universe dreamed up by the likes of people like Philip Zelikow. The example and the tools Jullian Assange is handing us are a ticket back to a more realistic and democratic organization of our society.

Ass clown ? Frontman or no the guy has a set of big ones in my book. The murder video was interesting.... that's the best you can say. It rocked the world much as the pictures of Abu Graib showed amerika for the dysfucntional democracy it is! No one was jailed or punished .. so what else is new? Whose fault is that. Even if they do have 260K in cables, I would think some measure of discretion would be in order to maintain a level of caution in order to prevent criticism involving unprofessional tactics or irresponsibility involving unrelated secrets being dissemenated etc. I do hope you're right about encouraging future whistleblowers who can provide evidence of an inside job though that would be about as good as it gets!

Are they blackmailing people or what? According to Manning, these embassy messages are VERY EXPLOSIVE and concern stations around the globe.

You want me to join in the group swoon? Get somebody thrown in prison for treason. Then I will lead the swooners.

Mention 911 one time, not just some Icelandic financial shenanigans, and I will not even care if Soros is the major money behind this shady bunch. This asshat is nothing but a frontman, a nobody. Yes, he looks funny. Yes, he talks funny. Perfect diversionary bagman.

Publish ALL the cables, non redacted in any form or go away.

or....break some new ground in bringing 911 Truth to the masses. Otherwise be shown for the Mossad operation you are.

camusrebel, refrain from using insults, and back up your accusations with links.

camusrebel: "Why are they sitting on the 260,000 cables?"

Assuming Manning did provide the cables (wikileaks has said they don't have 260,000, but it has been pointed out they may be playing word games, and have 259,000 or 261,000), wikileaks may still be processing them- their stated policy is to vet whatever they receive for authenticity, etc.

Whose going to throw people in prison for treason? The people in charge of the intel/defense/law enforcement establishment are responsible for some of the most heinous crimes, and they've got a history of obstructing investigations and prosecutions of themselves. So does that mean efforts to document and expose them- if that's what wikileaks is- shouldn't be supported? This info is useful now for educating the public and changing public opinion, making political change more likely, And if wikileaks is a scam, let it be exposed.

camusrebel is correct that we don't know all the players behind wikileaks- it's in the realm of possibility, which camusrebel seems to believe is an undeniable fact, that wikileaks is a honeypot designed to trap would be leakers and whistleblowers, and that all the embarrassing and compromising stuff they've published so far, all the efforts to shut the site down by the US and other govts as well as private corporations are simply for show. However, despite claims of "modest googling" and inflammatory accusations, camusrebel has provided no evidence of this, and it's also in the realm of possibility that wikileaks is entirely what it claims to be. KIM, we don't know who Manning is, either. And we don't know who camusrebel is.

articulated please. Much of your criticism is consrtructive and taken as such. Thank you for your polite tone and for points of possible agreement. However when you write, "all the efforts to shut the site down by the US and other govts as well as private corporations are simply for show" is something I believe is undeniable fact, then you have overstepped. Of course any entity with something to hide and the possibility of an inside leaker wants to shut them down. This in itself proves only how powerful they have become, not the goodness of their heart.

That is what alarms me, their growing power. Now let us step clearly into the land of speculation purely for a hypothetical thought exercise. What if Lt. Colonel John Doe was intimately involved with NORAD's ordered stand down and had tapes/paper trail to prove it. He submits the evidence to WLeaks. Within days he is killed in a car crash, or plane accident, or commits suicide by shooting himself 3 times in the head. The tapes are never put out. Who would ever put the 2 together?

Again, thank you for accepting the possibility of a honey pot. I am sorry for some childish attempts at humor and I promise no more ass jokes. My BS detector just has been going off like crazy on this outfit and in the past it has behooved me to pay it heed.

fair question. I am a 47 year old Special Education teacher in the Maryland suburbs of DC. I have started summer vacation. I live with the girl I fell madly in love with 30 years ago and our hound mutt Bella. Music is a huge part of my enjoyment. My brother and a few friends have been jamming off and on for about a year and would love to actually become a band one day just for fun(any drummers in the area?). I sing and play the harmonica. Our most cemented songs so far seem to be, "Never Been To Spain", "Sweet Jane", "The Weight", "Knock on Wood", "Dead Flowers", "Fortunate Son" and "Whats SFBoutPeaceLove&U". One of the saddest days of my life was when Jerry Garcia died.

I spend an inordinate amount of time hiking in the woods w/my mutt. I read voraciously. Very interested in how the newest discoveries in quantim physics often mirror ancient Eastern teachings.

As certain as I am of 911 being an inside job I also know these 3 things have much more reality
than most people would imagine: reincarnation, Atlantis and UFO's. On the last one, I strongly rec a video you can find on Youtube. It is a panel discussion at the National Press Club from May 2001 by the Disclosure Project. The level of bona-fides in the group(intel-military etc.) meets or surpasses the impressive group at PatriotsQuestion911.

My name is John. My last name is Slovakian often construed as Polish and is very unique in this country(only 5 people) so I do not choose to use it. I am under no misconception that an alias will hide me from "The Man" if he wants to find me but it may help keep my Principal and student's parents unaware of some of the more extreme views I choose to share online.

I feel terrible for the Palestinians who have had their land stolen through no fault of their own. E-voting is a complete crock of shit as cleary demonstrated(for the umpteenth time) in the S. Carolina debacle.

In high school I was the editor of the newspaper and co-captain of the football team, also playing 4 years of baseball while working at McDonald's nights and weekends.

The book "The Rebel" by Camus was my favorite for most of my 20's. I believe love is a real physical force in the universe that is very powerful and that on some level we are all one. Peace

I'm ten years older than you with the same birthday as Jerry Garcia and I turned 21 at a dead show in Jersey City about 12 people from the stage. I recently attended the X-conference with project disclosure in DC. A friend of mine Richard Dolan was the opening speaker and has spoken at every X conference since they started. I used to play some guitar and I have been renting rehearsal space to bands for 15+ years. Your point about Wikileaks being a possible front company is interesting and for all our sakes I hope your dead wrong. But I respect your concern in this crazy matrix of a world.
I saw a study that said with a birthdate, your sex and a zip code the chances are 85% you can be personally identified. We shared one of the saddest days as you have mentioned. The night John Lennon was shot I instinctively knew it was an assassination . One of my favorite books growing up was called Steal This Book, by abbey hoffman, yeah and someone did steal it from me which was cool. I never believed he took 200 seconals either!

I often been involved in such discussions. I can understand how some Truthers are mistrustful, but when they don't properly assess the ACTIONS of an individual, they get caught up in going after the messenger of one of the most outed massacres in the recent 9/11 Terror Wars. Assange is a hero by using the Internet to support whistleblowers defending principles of the US Constitution.

Collateral Murder
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video
depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people
in a suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.http://www.collateralmurder.com/

An Open Letter to the People of Iraq
Two soldiers from Bravo Company 2-16,
the company depicted in the video, have
written an open letter of apology to the Iraqis
who were injured or lost loved ones during
the attack that, these former soldiers say,
is a regular occurrence in this war.http://www.lettertoiraq.com/

'As feds hunt for Wikileaks' Julian Assange
in hopes of preventing him from publishing
diplomatic secrets, Samuel P. Jacobs talks
with Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Daniel Ellsberg about why he should
stay out of America­ and why some
things should be kept secret.'
11 June 2010 - The Daily Beast - Samuel P. Jacobs
'Assange Is in Some Danger'http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-11/daniel-ellsber...

07 April 2010 - Online Journal - Jerry Mazza
Killing Baghdad civilians
and Reuters journos from the air!
If the statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and
our forefathers could speak, they would scream
in anger at us for this descent into barbarism.
It makes this writer sick to his stomach.http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5774.shtml

The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international "new media haven" in Iceland, with the world's strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a "Nobel" prize for
for Freedom of Expression, has unanimously passed the Icelandic Parliament.

Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per the opinion of the parliament's general affairs committee [http://www.althingi.is/altext/138/s/1329.html ]. The first of these
altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to the list of tasks for the government:

- That the government should perform a detailed analysis, especially with respect to operational security, for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.

- That the government should organize an international conference in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state
of the Internet.